{"id":18350,"date":"2024-11-23T18:45:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T17:45:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=18350"},"modified":"2025-02-02T17:52:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T16:52:41","slug":"drug-legalization-takes-massive-hit-in-state-referenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2024\/11\/drug-legalization-takes-massive-hit-in-state-referenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug legalization takes massive hit in state referenda"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/author\/gabrielle-m-etzel\/\"><strong>Gabrielle M. Etzel<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>November 6, 2024 10:45 am<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Voters in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/election-2024\/\">2024 election\u00a0<\/a>dealt a rebuke to drug\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/3211672\/2024-drug-policy-ballot-measures\/\">legalization\u00a0<\/a>efforts in four states, a major political development that will shape the future of both\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marijuana\/\">marijuana<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/1261838\/psychedelic-boom-why-have-hallucinogens-burst-into-the-mainstream\/\">psychedelic<\/a> drug policy across the country:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Measures to legalize recreational marijuana failed in Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota, despite record spending from the cannabis industry already operating in those jurisdictions.<\/li>\n<li>Support for the Florida constitutional amendment,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/healthcare\/3217472\/florida-voters-reject-marijuana-legalization-amendment\/\">Amendment 3<\/a>, to legalize recreational marijuana only received 55.9% of the vote as of 9:49 a.m. Wednesday, according to the\u00a0<em>Associated Press<\/em>.\u00a0A 60% supermajority threshold was necessary to amend the Florida constitution.<\/li>\n<li>The \u201cNo\u201d vote to the marijuana legalization efforts in both North Dakota and South Dakota received outright majorities.<\/li>\n<li>North Dakota\u2019s Measure 5 was voted down\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/election-results-2024\/ballot-measures\/\">52.5%-47.5%<\/a>\u00a0with 99% of the vote counted as of 4:08 a.m. Wednesday. The \u201cNo\u201d vote for South Dakota\u2019s Measure 29 received\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/election-results-2024\/ballot-measures\/\">56.3%<\/a>\u00a0of the vote compared to 43.7% in favor with 90.3% of the ballots counted, also as of Wednesday morning.<\/li>\n<li>Massachusetts also heartily rejected an effort to legalize the medical and recreational use of psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin and psilocin.<\/li>\n<li>According to the\u00a0<em>Associated Press<\/em>, the ballot measure was voted down\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/election-results-2024\/ballot-measures\/\">56.9%-43.1%<\/a>\u00a0with 90.3% of the vote counted as of 9:28 a.m. Wednesday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The legalization effort was dealt a decisive blow in mid-October by the\u00a0<em>Boston Globe<\/em>, whose editorial board wrote that the measure \u201cgoes too far\u201d despite the therapeutic promise of psychedelics for treating PTSD and other mental health conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVoters by wide margins rejected the legalization of drugs like marijuana and psychedelics from red Florida to blue Massachusetts,\u201d Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions and Smart Approaches to Marijuana President Kevin Sabet said in a statement on the elections. \u201cWe expect this Administration to listen to this message loud and clear: More drugs are not good for any community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nebraska medical marijuana is only victory<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The two interrelated ballot initiatives for Nebraska were the only drug legalization amendments to pass on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Associated Press<\/em>\u00a0declared victory for the ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana, Initiative 437,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/election-results-2024\/ballot-measures\/\">70.2%-29.3%\u00a0<\/a>with 99% of the votes counted as of 6:52 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>The accompanying amendment, Initiative 438, which established the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission to regulate the medical marijuana program, passed with 67% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia. Results for Initiative 438 were not tracked by the\u00a0<em>Associated Press<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Nebraska is now one of 39 states that have legalized medical marijuana, which in the past has signaled that a recreational use policy will be introduced in the coming years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Future of federal drug policy<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cannabis is still classified as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, along with heroin and ecstasy. Schedule I drugs are determined to have no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, and federal penalties for possession and intent to distribute can be severe.<\/p>\n<p>President\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\">Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0issued a directive to executive branch agencies in 2022 to begin a review of federal marijuana statutes. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/dea\/\">Drug Enforcement Agency<\/a>\u00a0this spring started the process of reclassifying marijuana to a Schedule III substance, on par with ketamine and certain anabolic steroids.<\/p>\n<p>Although it was not a major issue in the presidential campaigns, both Vice President\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\">Kamala Harris<\/a>\u00a0and President-Elect\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0promised to continue with this spirit of drug reform at the federal level.<\/p>\n<p>Trump, a resident of Florida, posted on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/113105431683796730\">Truth Social<\/a>\u00a0in September that he planned to vote in favor of Amendment 3 because he supported \u201csmart regulations\u201d for cannabis at the state level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states rights to pass marijuana laws, like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens,\u201d Trump said in September.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s perspective on psychedelic drugs has not been as clear, but he has been a strong supporter of increasing access to clinical trials for experimental treatments for potentially fatal diseases.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past two years, there has been strong bipartisan support in Congress for improving funding for the mental health benefits of psychedelic drug use for patients with severe PTSD, particularly combat veterans at risk of suicide.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>Source:<\/strong><\/span> <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Gabrielle M. Etzel November 6, 2024 10:45 am Voters in the\u00a02024 election\u00a0dealt a rebuke to drug\u00a0legalization\u00a0efforts in four states, a major political development that will shape the future of both\u00a0marijuana\u00a0and\u00a0psychedelic drug policy across the country: Measures to legalize recreational marijuana failed in Florida, North Dakota, and South Dakota, despite record spending from the cannabis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,12,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cannabis-marijuana","category-legal-sector","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}